“Indeed, that’s the God Essence Pill!”
“Our clan has been producing God Essence Pills for decades now, so there’s no way I could be mistaken about that!”
“Even though I knew that it’s likely an exaggeration, I still came here with some anticipation. Yet, the organizer is trying to fool us with a mere God Essence Pill? Does she take us for bumpkins?”
The rest of the crowd also swiftly realized the same thing, and furious voices echoed through the crowd.
Seeing such a sight, Ye Qiuyan frowned.
As an ex-Celestial God who had come from Royal City, she possessed a sharp eye. No matter how she looked at it, the thing inside the container was definitely the most ordinary low-tier God Essence Pill. There was nothing special about it.
Qi Ling-er should be a pretty smart person considering her accomplishments so far, so it was hard to imagine that she would make a fatal mistake like this.
A female cultivator stood up and spoke with raised eyebrows. “Based on what I know, not even the apothecaries in Royal City have been able to produce anything close to a Beauty Pill. Miss Qi, I hope that you haven’t invited all of us here just to look at a mere God Essence Pill. I expect you to have a satisfactory explanation for this.”
This female cultivator was a high-tier God. Even though she had barely reached the realm not too long ago, the fact that she had reached this realm was more than enough to make her one of the top elites of Twilight City.
After all, even the principal of Twilight Academy had only reached this level of strength.
“Like you mentioned earlier, our time is precious. You’d better have a good reason for this!”
Voices of agreement echoed through the crowd.
“Quiet down! Do you think that I, Qi Ling-er, would have gathered all of you here over a mere God Essence Pill?” Qi Ling-er’s authoritative voice suppressed the chaos happening in the room.
“Rest assured, I have no intention of sullying my own reputation. Men!”
She raised her hand and beckoned her subordinates beneath the stage.
Hula!
The subordinates quickly brought a divine beast onto the stage.
Gedeng!
Upon seeing the divine beast, everyone’s heart skipped a beat.
“It’s a high-tier God realm divine beast, Lava Python!”
“This divine beast lives within the lava, making its body unbearably hot. It’s said to be an extremely difficult foe to deal with due to its ability to freely spit flames!”
“Why is she bringing such a beast onstage? It’ll be a huge problem if someone’s burned by its flames…”
“My close friend had her arm burned by that fellow. She used all sorts of medicinal herbs in order to heal her scars, but twenty years have passed since then, and her scars show no signs of disappearing.”
The divine beast that had been brought into the room was exceptionally notorious in Twilight City. It was one of the more difficult flame attribute beasts to deal with.
“Judging from your reactions, I reckon I need not explain the ability of this divine beast. Is there anyone among you who wishes to fight with it?” Qi Ling-er asked with a smile.
The crowd immediately frowned.
It was a known fact that divine beasts were usually stronger than cultivators of the same realm. Given that the enemy was a high-tier God realm divine beast, there was probably no one in the event venue who would stand a chance against it in a one-on-one.
“If no one is going to volunteer, I’ll just have to use my own people. I hope that none of you will view this as an act of cheating,” Qi Ling-er said.
The female cultivator who had spoken earlier harrumphed. “With so many eyes on you, it’ll be hard for you to cheat even if you want to! Hurry up and do whatever you are planning to do. Don’t waste our time!”
“Since Madam Chen has already said so, I won’t stand on ceremony then!”
Qi Ling-er raised her hand and beckoned.
Huala!
A young lady walked over to the Lava Python. Her body was shivering, but she took a deep breath and forced herself to remain rooted to the spot.
“Begin!” Qi Ling-er ordered.
Hula!
The Lava Python suddenly released a furious cry and opened its massive mouth. A searing bundle of flames immediately poured out of its mouth, incinerating the young lady.
A moment later, when the flames vanished, the young lady’s body was completely covered in burns. She collapsed to the ground due to the severity of her injuries. At the same time, her delicate skin was completely ruined as a result of the flames, causing her to look a little frightening.
“Qi Ling-er, what the hell are you doing?” Ye Qiuyan roared in fury.
That woman was really making light of a person’s life!
Regardless of whether that lady was her subordinate or not, or whether they had some sort of deal with one another, Qi Ling-er was going overboard by using a divine beast to ruin a person’s life like that. That was a major infringement of the rules of the Firmament and Twilight City!
Just this act in itself was enough to warrant Qi Ling-er’s arrest and subject her to heavy punishment!
Seeing the pale faces all around the room, Qi Ling-er quickly waved her hand and said, “Please calm yourselves. I have no intention of harming anyone. Since I have subjected her to the flames of the Lava Python, it goes without saying that I have my means of fully treating her!
“Madam Chen, you come from a clan of apothecaries, and your husband, Chen Yixiong, is the most famous apothecary in Twilight City. May I know if you know of any ways that this young lady can be treated?”
Madam Chen pondered for a moment before shaking her head. “The flame of the Lava Python isn’t just any normal flame. Once the fire toxin seeps into one’s body, even high-tier Gods will have trouble trying to expel it from their body. I’m afraid that I don’t have any good remedies for this.”
“What about Madam Liu? Your husband, Liu Mingyang, is the best physician in Twilight City. Do you have any ideas on how this young lady can be treated?” Qi Ling-er continued asking around.
“There’s no way at all. The fire toxin is hard to expel, so there’s nothing much I can do,” Madam Liu replied.
“Allow me to extend the question to the rest of you. Is there anyone who knows of a way to treat that young lady over here? Also, in case there are any skeptics among the crowd, may I verify with the professionals here whether there is a possibility that we could have faked the fire toxin to put on an act?” Qi Ling-er continued.
“We aren’t able to treat such a condition.”
The crowd shook their heads.
There was no way they would be able to resolve an illness that even Madam Chen and Madam Liu were helpless before. As for faking the fire toxin… that was even more impossible.
The Lava Python was right before their eyes, and they had witnessed just how vicious the flames were. There was no one here who had not felt the searing heat released by the python’s mouth earlier.
No matter how one looked at it, there was no chance that this was a staged ploy.
“Since we have a consensus, allow me to proceed to treat her. This will be a good opportunity to showcase the potency of the ‘God Essence Pill’ that you have been talking about!”
Seeing that she had managed to build up the suspense long enough, Qi Ling-er gestured for the lady holding onto the jade container to take out the pill within and feed it to the burned lady.
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Hu!
As soon as the pill slid down her throat, the body of the burned lady immediately began trembling. In less than three breaths, a layer of black skin fell from her arm, and the same happened all over her body.
Qi Ling-er raised her hand once more, and another subordinate rushed forward to clean the burned lady’s body with clean water. As the latter’s body was rubbed clean, a layer of delicate skin was revealed beneath the black skin.
Everyone was stunned.
All of them had witnessed how the lady was nearly burned to death.
But just by consuming the Beauty Pill, not only did she manage to recover from her burns, all the bum marks vanished without a trace. In fact, the lady’s skin seemed to be much better than before, almost as if it had all been a magic trick.
How did this happen?
Was it because the lady had eaten that God Essence Pill?
Were its effects really that great?
The surroundings fell silent. Even those with the loudest criticism earlier had nothing to say anymore.
Everyone was simply too shocked to even say a word.
Satisfied by the astounded looks all around her, Qi Ling-er continued with her introduction. “These are the effects of the God Essence Pill forged by our apothecary. Not only does it beautify one’s appearance, it can also heal scars and help to preserve one’s beauty.
“This miraculous pill will be sold at a price of one thousand Divine Coins each. If you reserve some doubts regarding its effectiveness, you can consume it on the spot and pay only after the pill takes effect. Due to the difficulty in producing them, we were only able to prepare twenty pills for the first sales, and we have already used one of them here. In other words, there are only nineteen of them left. If you were to miss out on this opportunity, I can’t guarantee when there will be new stock!”
“My goodness, that pill costs one thousand Divine Coins each? That’s daylight robbery…”
Everyone was bewildered.
Even Streak of Gray, despite years of plundering from merchants, was only able to accrue a wealth of several hundred Divine Coins.
Yet, a single pill cost one thousand Divine Coins…
This was ridiculous!
“One thousand Divine Coins is indeed overpriced, but she says that she only has nineteen of them in hand. Once they’re sold out, there’s no guarantee whether there’ll be a second batch…”
“I thought that she might be a fraud, so I was watching everything very closely earlier. There’s no way she could have played any tricks during the demonstration. Given the powerful potency of the pill, I think that charging one thousand Divine Coins for it actually isn’t too much!”
“That’s true… We have all aged, and our appearance isn’t what it used to be. If I don’t find a way to reverse it, it’s only a matter of time before a foxy vixen succeeds in seducing my husband. By then, it will be futile no matter how much money I spend…”
“Indeed. Those transmogrified foxes are bom with seductive looks, making it hard to resist their advances…”
Fervent discussions could be heard here and there.
Even though there were quite a few people who thought that the pricing was fair, that did not change the fact that one thousand Divine Coins was a price beyond what most could afford.
Qi Ling-er had made sure to invite only the wealthiest merchants and female cultivators in Twilight City, but it would still be difficult for them to fork out so much money on the spot.
Seeing the looks of hesitation all around, the middle-aged lady standing behind Qi Ling-er whispered worriedly into her ear, “Young Mistress, don’t you think that the price is a little too high?”
This was a price that was set arbitrarily by Qi Ling-er without discussing with anyone, so she had only learned about it just a moment ago as well.
“It’s not high at all. I intend to push out the Beauty Pill as a high-end extravagant product. Don’t worry. They would be willing to spend as much as it takes for them to preserve their youth,” Qi Ling-er replied with a smile.
She understood the mentality of those women very well.
The desire for beauty was encoded in the genes of all humans. As cultivators became more affluent and lived longer lives, they would begin to become more concerned about their reputation and appearance.
The only thing was that it had been impossible for them to change their appearance, at least till that very day. If an opportunity to become more beautiful appeared before their eyes, most of these people would surely grasp it.
“I understand!”
The middle-aged lady nodded after seeing how confident Qi Ling-er was.
“Are there no buyers?”
After waiting for a while, there was still no one who was willing to step forward to buy the Beauty Pill.
Despite that, Qi Ling-er did not look anxious in the least. The fact that they were staying meant that they were already hooked. All they needed was one last push.
So, she turned her eyes toward Ye Qiuyan and smiled.
She calmly rose to her feet, walked over, and clasped her fist. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Envoy Ye.”
Ye Qiuyan nodded slightly to acknowledge Qi Ling-er’s presence, but she did not say anything else.
“Since everyone is still harboring some reservations toward the Beauty Pill, I would like to invite Envoy Ye up to give it a try if it isn’t too much trouble,” Qi Ling-er said. “Envoy Ye, you can be assured that I won’t charge you if the effects of the pill aren’t to your satisfaction.”
Ye Qiuyan frowned upon hearing those words.
However, seeing that the other party did not mean anything else with those words, she pondered for a moment before nodding. “Very well.”
Qi Ling-er raised her hand, and a subordinate immediately carried another Ink Jade Box over and opened it.
Ye Qiuyan first inspected the Ink Jade Box carefully before picking up the God Essence Pill placed within and examining it. After ensuring that there was nothing amiss, she placed it into her mouth.
Hu!
The pill melted as soon as it entered her mouth, and a surge of energy swiftly gushed through her body. Shortly after, she felt a tingling yet slightly numbing sensation on her right cheek.
She subconsciously raised her hand to hold her right cheek, but at this moment, Qi Ling-er suddenly took out a copper mirror and offered it to her.
She hesitantly accepted the copper mirror and looked at her own reflection. Even through the veil, she could tell that her skin was much smoother and more delicate than before. Furthermore, something that was there previously seemed to have disappeared.
With trembling hands, she carefully removed the veil around her face.
And she gasped.
The glaring scar that had plagued her for many years had vanished without a trace. Not only so, she also looked ten years younger than she did before. The difference in her appearance was so great that it was hard to believe that she was still the same person she had seen in the mirror earlier in the day!
“How did you manage to do this?”
Ye Qiuyan could hardly believe her eyes.